Draining apparatus



Sept. 21, 1965 E. J. KLovERs DRAINING APPARATUS Filed oct. e. 1961 .ofthe drain pipe.

restricting a small amount of motion between the cored United StatesPatent 3,207,210 DRAINING APPARATUS Ervin' J. Klovers, Milwaukee, `Wis.,assignor to Allis- This invention relates to apparatus for draining heattransfer liquid from cooling systems.

In operations that produce heat either as an inherent goal or as abyproduct of friction losses (for example, furnaces produce heat as aninherent characteristic of their operation and bearings produce heatfrom the frictioncreated between surfaces) where the heat produced isnot directly utilizedvor channeled, it is usually necessary to cool theheat producing structure. This is often accomplished by circulating aheat transfer liquid, such as water, around the heat producing portionby having the immediate `structural components cored to form a chamberfor circulating the heat transfer (cooling) liquid. This cored sectionor chamber is liquid tight and has an inlet for admission and an outletfor discharge of cooling liquid. In addition, it is advantageous, andsometimes necessary, to provide an arrangement for completely drainingthe chamber when the unit is not operating. This arrangement is normallyseparately located from the inlet and outlet when neither the inlet northe outlet are located at a low portion of the chamber.

Water is the most commonly used heat transfer liquid because it isgenerally inexpensive and readilB available in most areas. However,since water freezes at temperatures that are encountered in many areasof application it is necessary to provide a means for draining thechamber when the unit is not operating and the ambient temperaturebecomes lower than its freezing point. It is, of course, possible to addsubstances to water to lower its freezing point but this is notpractical or feasible in many situations. In addition, it is desirableto be able to easily drain a system and chamber for maintenance purposesor when long shut down periods are encountered.

The most common manner of draining the chamber utilizes a drain openingand plug located at a low point in the chamber. This drain plug isremoved (or opened if it is a valved drain) whenever it is desirable todrain the chamber. In some systems this drain opening need only passthrough a single wall, the wall of the chamber, in order to communicatebetween the chamber and the atmosphere. In this situation there areusually no difficulties encountered, outside of possible inconvenience,in draining the system. In other situations, however, the drain, if itis to be located at a lower portion of the chamber, must open into apipe which passes through supporting structural components before itreaches the atmosphere. This type of structure raises difficulties bothin construction and maintenance. And where the supporting structurecontains uid compartments, such as oil reservoirs for containinglubricant, there is the further problem of preventing leakage along theoutside Also, there is the necessity of not chamber and the supportingstructure. The cored charnber, being a bearing, must be free to alignitself with the shaft.` Past experience has shown that where thissituation exists, there is a great likelihood -of oil leaking along thispipe out of the reservoir. This loss of oil is uneconomical and couldresult in serious damage to the lubricated surfaces if the oil levelshould drop below that required for proper lubrication.

An example of an apparatus that has such an arrangement is a trunnionsupported grinding mill which contains a coredbearingshell enclosing achamber for the circulation of cooling liquid and an oil reservoir inthe sup- ICC porting `structure below the chamber. In this particulartype of application the oil leakage problem has significance andattempts to solvethe problem by proper sealing along the drain pipe havenot been entirely successful.

In this invention the drain pipe connections are made at ahigheruportion of the chamber so that it is not necessary for the drainpipe to pass through the supporting structure located beneath thechamber. Particularly, it is possible to avoid passing the drain pipethrough the oil reservoir which is normally located beneath the chamberin trunnion bearing shell or similar apparatus. Since the inlet andoutlet connections for circulation during cooling are located at higherlevels in such a chamber there is usually no difficulty in communicatingdirectly from the chamber, Vthrough the upper chamber wall, and intoconduits normally communicating with the atmosphere. This inventionaccomplishes draining from a lower level of the chamber to outletconnections located at a higher level by using an internal syphon tubeor similar draining means, located within the chamber, for carryingliquid from a lower level of the chamber to the outlet. Thus, there areno external connections at the lower level of the chamber but only athigher levels located at or near the usual inlet and outlet connections.The means utilized in forcing the flow of liquid from the chamber totheoutlet when the flow of the cooling liquid into the chamber is stoppedcan be either pressurized gas introduced to cause the discharge of theliquid or atmospheric air to allow syphoning to take place from thechamber to an outlet.

The objects of this invention include providing a new and improvedarrangement 4for draining the chamber of a circulatory cooling systemcapable of simple, convenient, and practical operation that eliminatesthe need of passing a drain pipe through supporting structure beneaththe chamber, thereby avoiding passing a drain pipe through a fluid tightcompartment such as an 'oil reservoir and avoiding hindering the freemotion of the bearing shell in relation to the supporting structure.

Other objects and advantages of this apparatus and the operation thereofwill be evident from the following detailed description and explanation.

FIG. l is a partially cut away view of a trunnion supported grindingmill with a cored bearing shell that embodies this invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional end view of the semiannular cooling fluidchamber shown in FIG. l with valves in position for conducting coolingfluid through the chamber;

FIG. 3 is the same end view as that shown in FIG. 2 with the valves inposition for draining the chamber; and

FIG. 4 is a portion of the same end view.

Referring to FIG. 1, a revolvable cylinder 1 has a trunnion 2 restingupon a trunnion bearing surface 3. Trunnion bearing surface 3 is part ofal cored bearing shell 10 disposed upon supporting structure 9, whichalso contains and defines a semiannular chamber 11 located adjacent tothe trunnion bearing surface and an oil reservoir 4 located in thesupporting structure 9 below the cored bearing shell. The entiretrunnion, supporting structure, land bearing shell are housed within acover assembly 5 which consists, in part, of a cover wall 6. An inletValve control 7 extends through cover wall 6 and connects to an inletvalve (not shown in FIG. l) that will be described later and a dischargevalve control 8 connects to a discharge valve 25 that will also bedescribed later.

Referring to FIG. 2, cored bearing shell 10 defines semiannular chamber11. At one apex of the semiannular chamber an inlet valve 12 has a rstinlet valve port 13, second inlet valve Aport 14, and third inlet valveport 15.

Inlet valve 12 connects to semiannular chamber 11 by means of an inletconduit 18 and inlet port 19. With the inlet valve in the position shownin FIG. 2, a liquid inlet means 16 is created and consists of such as aliquid conduit 17, inlet valve 12 (through its second inlet valve port14 and its first inlet valve port 13), inlet conduit 18, and inlet port19.

A gas conduit 23, as shown in FIG. 2, is shut off by the Valving effectof inlet valve 12 which is shown blocking its third inlet valve port 15.The purpose of this conduit 23 will appear as the description of theinvention proceeds with later reference to other figures in the drawing.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, a discharge valve 25 can be seen atthe opposite end of semiannular charnber 11. Discharge valve 25 has afirst discharge valve port 26, second discharge valve port 27, and thirddischarge valve port 28 and is in communication by its rst dischargevalve port 26 with the semiannular chamber through an outlet means whichconsists of such as an outlet port 31 and outlet conduit 32. Withdischarge valve 25 in the position shown in FIG. 2, the semiannularchamber communicates to a discharge means which consists of such as adischarge conduit 36 (connected to second discharge valve port 27) anddischarge outlet 37. Also communicating with discharge valve 25 at itsthird discharge valve port 28 is a draining means 40 which consists ofsuch as a draining conduit 41 (connected to third discharge valve port28) and a draining tube 42 with a draining port 43. With the dischargevalve in the position shown in FIG. 2, draining means is shut olf bydischarge valve 25 blocking off third discharge valve port 28.

Referring to FIG. 3, the inlet Valve 12 is shown in a position thatdefines a gas inlet means 22 which consists of such as gas conduit 23,inlet valve 12 (through its third inlet valve port 15 and its firstinlet valve port 13), inlet conduit 18, and inlet port 19. At theopposite end of semiannular chamber 11, discharge valve 25 is shown in aposition that allows communication between draining means 40 anddischarge means 35 via its third discharge valve port 28 and its seconddischarge valve port 27.

In the operation of the apparatus the inlet and discharge valves areplaced in the position shown in FIG. 2 to provide for a ow of the liquidthrough chamber 11.

- With the valves in this position a liquid which may be l cooling wateriiows along a path indicated by the solid arrows 20, through liquidinlet means 16 (i.e., 17, 14, 12, 13 and 18) into chamber 11. Afterflowing through the chamber, the liquid flows through outlet means 30(i.e., 31, 32 and 26). With discharge valve 25 in the indicatedposition, liquid flows from outlet means 30 into dischargevalve 25 landout through discharge means 35 (i.e., 27, 36 and 37).

Inlet port 19 and outlet port 31 are shown in their most advantageouslocation, that is, a location that gives a iiow path straight throughthe chamber thereby eliminating :any cavitation or eddying within thechamber that might create lesser heat transfer at these points andresulting hot spots in the chamber wall and adjacent portions of thebearing surface 3. Discharge outlet 37 may connect to a waste drain orit may connect to an arrangement for carrying the discharged liquid to aseparate heat exchanger for cooling and recirculation into the chamber.

When the associated machinery is shut down and/ or conditions areexpected that require draining of chamber 11 the inlet and dischargevalves may be placed in the position shown in FIG. 3 by turning theinlet valve control 7 and the discharge valve control 8 (both shown inFIG. l) at substantially the same time. Upon turning inlet valve 12 tothe position shown in FIG. 3, the valve communicates between third inletvalve port 15 and first inlet valve port 13 thereby creating the gasinlet means 4 22 (i.e., 23, 15, 12, 13, 18 and 19). With this inletvalve position, gas flows along a gas path shown by dotted arrows 24through gas inlet means 22 into chamber 11.

With discharge valve 25 in the position shown in FIG. 3 the liquidremaining in the chamber is caused to ow, by the pressure of the gasintroduced into the chamber at the inlet port 19, along a liquid flowpath shown by solid arrows 20 (FIG. 3) through draining means 40 (i.e.,43, 42, 41 and 28) into discharge means 35 at second discharge valveport 27.

It is evident that liquid flows out of the chamber if the pressure ofthe gas within the chamber is greater than the pressure at dischargeoutlet 37. However, a simpler and preferred operation places dischargeoutlet 37 at atmospheric pressure at a point lower than draining port43. With this arrangement atmospheric air is introduced into chamber 11through gas inlet means 22, which now becomes a venting means, andsyphoning takes place from chamber 11 at draining port 43 through asyphoning means consisting of draining means 40 and discharge means 35.The simplicity of the operation of turning the inlet and dischargevalves makes the draining procedure very simple and convenient andtherefore advantageous for this reason alone.

It is necessary, in order for syphoning to take place, that the liquidremaining in inlet conduit 18 displaces and forces any air entrapped indraining tube 42 and conduit 41 to a point in discharge conduit 36 thatis below draining port 43. Normally, inlet conduit 18 will havesufficient height and volume so that if the valves are placed in theposition shown in FIG. 3 (for syphoning) at Substantially the same timethe liquid remaining in the inlet conduit will be sufficient to displaceany air that has accumulated in draining conduit 41 and draining tube42. However, if the inl-et valve is not located high enough or inletconduit 18 has insuiiicient volume for this purpose, or it is notfeasible to turn the valves at about the same time, it is possible toiirst `briefly place discharge valve 25 in the position indicated inFIG. 4. This position would have to be maintained only long enoughbefore the closing of liquid inlet means 16 to allow air entrapped indraining tube 42 and draining conduit 41 to be forced through dischargeconduit 36. Another approach to accomplish the same thing in operationof the apparatus would -be to turn the discharge valve to the positionindicated in FIG. 3 before the inlet valve is turned (from normaloperational iiowing) to the position indicated in FIG. 3. With thisarrangement, part of the liquid flows from inlet port 18 throughdraining port 43 and any entr-apped air is forced out through drainingmeans 40 into discharge means 35, thus filling the syphoning means wi-thliquid and allowing syphoning action to take place When the inlet valveis turned to the syphoning position (shown in FIG. 3) for admittingatmospheric air to enter the chamber. The syphoning process thencontinues until the chamber is emptied.

It is apparent that the types, combinations, and placement of theconduits and valves, and the configuration of the chamber may be variedbut still accomplish the same -thing in substantially the same way. Forexample, it is possible to combine the valving operation by anappropriate connecting member, or to utilize separate on-off Valvesinstead of the described valves. Therefore, the apparatusI shown isillustrative only and is not intended to encompass all the possiblevariations of the invention.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and the manner in Which it is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is:

1. An apparatus having a cored bearing shell describing a chamberextending `between vertically spaced levels comprising: an inlet valveconnecting and communicating with the chamber through an inlet port,said inlet port located at a higher of said levels of the chamber; aliquid conduit connecting to and communicating with the inlet valve; agas conduit connecting to and communicating with the inlet valve; aninlet valve control for rotating the inlet valve into two positions, thefirst position placing the liquid conduit in communication with thechamber, and the second position placing the gas conduit, inlet valve,inlet conduit, and inlet port in communication with the chamber; adischarge valve connecting and communicating with the chamber throughari outlet port located at a higher of said levels of the chamber; adischarge conduit connecting and communicating with the discharge valveand having a discharge outlet disposed lower` than said lower level ofthe chamber; a draining conduit connecting and communicating with thedischarge valve disposed within the chamber and having a draining portlocated at a lower level of the chamber, said draining conduit passingthrough the shell at a higher of said levels of the chamber; a dischargevalve control for rotating the discharge valve into two positions, thefirst position placing only the draining port in communication with thedischarge conduit and the second position placing only the outlet portin communication with the discharge conduit.

2. An apparatus having a cored bearing shell describing a chamberextending between vertically spaced levels comprising: an inlet valveconnecting and communicating with the discharge conduit with -thechamber through an inlet port, said inlet port located at a higher ofsaid levels of the chamber; a liquid conduit connecting to andcommunicating with the inlet valve; a gas conduit connecting to andcommunicating with the inle-t valve; an inlet valve control for rotatingthe inlet valve into two positions, the first position placing theliquid conduit in com- -munication with the inlet port, and the secondposition placing the gas conduit in communication with the inlet por-t;a discharge valve connecting and communicating with 4the chamber throughan outlet port located at a higher of said levels of the chamber; adischarge conduit connecting and communicating with the discharge valveand having a discharge outlet disposed lower than the lowest of saidlevels of the chamber; a draining conduit connecting and communicatingwith the discharge valve disposed within the chamber and having adraining port located at a lower level of the chamber, said drainingconduit passing -through the shell at a higher of said levels `of thechamber; a discharge valve control for rotating the discharge valve intothree positions, the lirst position placing only the drawing port incommunication with the discharge conduit, the second position placingonly the outlet port in communication, and the third position placingthe discharge conduit in communication with the chamber through both theoutlet port and draining port.

3. An apparatus having a cored shell with the cored section describing achamber having a generally semiannular configuration with its midportiondisposed at a lower level than its two apexes and wi-th its two apexesdisposed upward comprising: an inlet valve connecting and communicatingwith the chamber at an inlet port located at its first apex; a liquidconduit connecting to and communicating with the inlet valve; a gasconduit connecting to and communicating with the inlet valve; an inletvalve control for rotating the inlet valve into two positions, the4lirst position placing the liquid conduit in communication with thechamber at said inlet port, and

the second position placing the gas conduit in communication with thechamber at said inlet port; a discharge valve connecting andcommunicating with the chamber at an outlet port located at its secondapex; a discharge conduit connecting and communicating with thedischarge valve; a syphoning conduit connecting and communicating withthe discharge valve disposed within the chainber and having a drainingport located at said lower level of the chamber; a discharge valvecontrol for rotating the discharge valve into three positions, the firstposition placing only the draining port in communication with thedischarge conduit, the second position placing only the outlet port incommunication with the discharge conduit and the .third position placingthe discharge conduit in communication with the cham-ber through boththe outlet port and draining port.

4. A trunnion bearing cooling apparatus having a cored bearing shell forsupporting a trunnion with the cored section describing a chamber havinga generally semiannular configuration with its midportion disposed at alower level than its two apexes and with its two apexes `disposed upwardcomprising: a three way inlet valve having three ports connecting andcommunicating from its first port with the chamber through an inletconduit having an inlet port located at the first apex communicatingwith the chamber; a cooling liquid conduit connecting to andcommunicating with the inlet valve at its second port; a gas conduitconnecting to and communicating with the inlet valve at its third port;an inlet valve control for rotating the inlet valve into two positions,the first position forming a cooling liquid inlet means by placing thecooling liquid conduit, inlet valve, inlet conduit, and inlet port incommunication with the chamber, and the second position forming a gasflow means by placing the gas conduit, inlet valve, inlet conduit, andinlet port in communication with the chamber; a three way dischargevalve having three ports connecting and communicating from its firstport with the chamber through an outlet conduit having an outlet portlocated at the second apex communicating with the chamber; a dischargeconduit connecting and communicating with the discharge valve at itssecond port at one end and having a discharge outlet, disposed lowerthan the midportion of the chamber, at the other end; a draining conduitdisposed within the chamber connecting and communicating with thedischarge valve at its -third port and having a draining port located ata lower level of the chamber, said draining condui-t passing through theshell at the second apex and communicating between the chamber at alower level and the discharge valve; a discharge valve controlling meansfor rotating the discharge valve into three positions, the firstposition placing the discharge outle-t in communication with the chamberthrough the discharge valve, outlet conduit, and outlet port, the second position placing the discharge outlet in communica- -tion with thechamber through the discharge valve, draining conduit, and drainingport, and the third position placing the discharge outlet incommunication with the chamber through the discharge valve, outletconduit, outlet port, draining conduit, and draining port.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,029,232 1/36Green 134-98 2,244,292 6/41 Eldridge l34-96 2,452,046 10/ 48 Garrison etal 308-77 CHARLES SUKALO, Primary Examiner.

HERBERT L. MARTIN, PERCY L. PATRICK,

Examiners.

ent requiring correction and th corrected below.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST W. SWIDER EDWARD I. BRENNER Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

1. AN APPARATUS HAVING ACORED BEARING SHELL DESCRIBING A CHAMBEREXTENDING BETWEEN VERTICALLY SPACED LEVELS COMPRISING: AN INLET VALVECONNECTING AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE CHAMBER THROUGH AN INLET PORT,SAID INLET PORT LOCATED AT A HIGHER OF SAID LEVELS OF THE CHAMBER; ALIQUID CONDUIT CONNECTING TO AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE INLET VALVE; AGAS CONDUIT CONNECTING TO AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE INLET VALVE; ANINLET VALVE CONTRO FOR ROTATING THE INLET VALVE INTO TWO POSITIONS, THEFIRST TWO POSITION PLACING THE LIQUID CONDUIT IN COMMUNICATION WITH THECHAMBER, AND THE SECOND POSITION PLACING THE GAS CONDUIT, INLET VALVE,INLET CONDUIT, AND INLET PORT IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE CHAMBER; ADISCHARGE VALVE CONNECTING AND COMMUNICATING WITH THE CHAMB ER THROUGHAN OUTLET PORT LOCATED AT A HIGHER OF SAID LEVELS OF THE CHAMBER; A DIS-